The King of Pop is back: reigning the UK album charts with his posthumous Xscape album and stealing the show at this year's Billboard awards, which took place on Sunday.

Ahead of the ceremony in Las Vegas, there was much speculation to whether the hologram would feature at the event. It wasn't until two days before the awards that federal judge Kent Dawson ruled that Billboard could use the digital projection of the singer, after claims that the 3D image would violate patents held by Hologram USA Inc and Musion Das Hologram Ltd. Efforts from tech companies seeking to block the digital performance were rejected on Friday.

Introduced by Ludacris, a hologram of the late singer made its debut during the show, performing Slave to the Rhythm, moonwalking across the stage and mirroring many of the pop icon's signature moves.

"We tried to do as best we could what we thought Michael would have loved, and those of us who knew Michael really well, we had a good perspective on it," Epic Records CEO LA Reid said backstage, via Associated Press.

Elsewhere, Justin Timberlake won seven prizes, including top artist and Billboard 200 album. "All the other finalists, Miley, Imagine Dragons, Bruno, Katy, I love you guys, it's not a competition, but if it is, I won!" Timberlake said via a video message.

Robin Thicke picked up four awards following the vast global success of his controversial No 1 single Blurred Lines. He also premiered his new single Get Her Back, a not-so-subtle message for his wife Paula Patton perhaps, after the couple announced in February they were separating. The track ended with the line: "I gotta get her back tonight."

Other live performances on the night included a remote rendition of The Beatles' Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds by Miley Cyrus and the Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne, who performed the track from Manchester during her Bangerz tour. Last week it was announced that a cover of the psychedelic Beatles track will appear on With a Little Help From My Fwends, the Flaming Lips' anticipated tribute to the 1967 Sgt Pepper album, which will feature Moby, Miley and MGMT.

"I have to of course thank all of my amazing fans. ... Thank you everybody for making this (expletive) possible oops I'm on ABC, sorry," Cyrus said when accepting top streaming artist.New Zealand pop star Lorde also took away two awards on the night, scooping prizes for best new artist and rock song for Royals, before performing new single Tennis Court.